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Sign the petition for a new masterplan of Riverside Drive

This content is from a petition published by former Gabba Ward Councillor Jonathan Sriranganathan on May 14th, 2018. The petition received 836 signatures, and is no longer active.


West End Riverside Lands Park (known to most people as ‘Riverside Drive’) is one of the heaviest used parks in the inner-city, both as a transport corridor and as a space for active recreation and leisurely walks.

The pace of change in this part of West End has been rapid, but existing planning documents do not clearly identify how each part of this park should be used and developed.

Riverside_Drive_West_End.jpg

As local councillor, I would like to see the rest of Riverside Drive closed off to vehicles, with some sections replanted densely to provide vegetated native habitat, and other areas upgraded with active recreation facilities, picnic nodes and better pathways.

Several years ago, the council drafted a masterplan for Riverside Drive, but this was never formalised, and the outdated draft no longer reflects the needs and priorities of the rapidly growing local community.

The absence of a masterplan causes conflict and confusion as different park users make competing improvement requests for various sections of the park.

A couple of the rowing clubs who lease sections of the park have proposed redevelopments which would significantly expand their footprint. The council is also making major changes as part of a project to remediate contaminated land. I would like to see the stretch of road between Jane St and Hockings St closed to vehicles, possibly with vehicle access created from Hockings St directly to the boat ramp. But without a masterplan, haphazard and ad hoc changes may diminish the overall value of the park, exacerbating conflicts between different uses.

Before any major changes are made to the park, council should create a detailed masterplan. The masterplanning process should be genuinely consultative and democratic, offering a voice to the many different demographics who use the park, meeting the needs of both nearby neighbours and visitors from further away.

Everyone should get a say in how this park changes and evolves. If you agree, please sign this petition, and encourage your friends to do the same.

 


 

Petition text:

We call on the Lord Mayor and Brisbane City Council to urgently initiate a detailed masterplanning process for West End Riverside Lands Park, stretching from Orleigh Park all the way to Kurilpa Point Park.

The masterplan should include a community design process, with a focus on empowering and collaborating with residents, rather than tokenistic consultation. We believe the masterplanning process must be well-resourced and flexible, with a broad range of opportunities for residents and other stakeholders to be involved.

We are concerned that the lack of a current masterplan prevents this valuable public space from realising its full potential, heightening the risk of bad decisions and a misallocation of resources.

We call for consultation on the masterplan to begin in 2020, and for the process to involve close partnerships with Councillor Sri's Gabba Ward office and with local community groups such as West End Community Association and Kurilpa Futures.

We believe all residents should get more of a say in how their neighbourhoods change and evolve.